Loretto, TN

Loretto is a Lawrence County city on a broad ridgetop between Shoal Creek Valley and Bluewater Creek, with U.S. 43 running southwest toward the Muscle Shoals area and northeast to Lawrenceburg. The place began as the stagecoach stop of Glen Rock; German Catholic settlers arrived in 1870, and the community took the name Loretto after their parish formed. Sacred Heart Church stands at the center of the city’s historic district, with the 1912 building listed on the National Register. Loretto is a Tennessee town where a stage road, German settlement, and old church still set the shape of downtown.